Rev. James FITCH (1622 – 1702) was Alex’s 9th great grandfather, one of 1,024 in this generation of the Miner line. He helped found the towns of Saybrook, Norwich and Lebanon Connecticut and was instrumental in getting Sachem Uncas and the Mohegans, and also the Pequot Indians, to side with the English against King Philip’s the Narragansett tribes in King Philip’s War.

Hawkeye and Uncas discuss whether to attack the British from the movie the Last of the Mohegans

Rev. James Fitch was born 24 Dec 1622 in Bocking, Essex, England. His parents were Thomas FITCHand Anne REEVES. His brother Capt. John FITCH was also our ancestor through the Shaw line. He came to America in 1638 and was the first minister at Norwich. He was ordained as the minister of Saybrook in 1646. He first married Abigail Whitfield on 18 Oct 1648 in Guilford, CT. James and Abigail were, according to legend at least, married by her father in the north end of the living room of the Gilford Stone House on 1 October 1648. This seems unlikely however because the 17th Century congregational church, marriage was not a sacrament, and marriages were generally performed by civil authorities rather than clergy. The marriage was recorded “after the fact” in the Norwich, Connecticut vital records. After Abigail died, he married Priscilla MASON on 2 Oct 1664 in Norwich, CT. James died 18 Nov 1702 in Lebanon, CT.

Translated “In this grave are deposited the remains of that truley reverend man, Mr. James Fitch. He was born in Bocking, in the County of Essex, in England, the 24th day of December, in the year of our Lord 1622; who after he had been most excellently taught the learned languages came into New England at the age of sixteen, and then spent seven years under the instructions of those very famous men, Mr. Hooker and Mr. Stone. Afterwards he discharged the pastoral office fourteen years at Saybrook. Thence he removed with the major part of his Church to Norwich, where he spent the other years of his life in the work of the gospel.

In his old age indeed he was obliged to cease from his public labors by reason of bodily indisposition and at length retired to his children at Lebanon, where after spending nearly half a year, he slept in Jesus in the year 1702, on the 18th day of November, in the 80th year of his age. He was a man as to the smartness of his genius, the solidity of his judgement, his charity, holy labors, and every kind of purity of life, and also as to his skill and energy of preaching, inferior to none.”

Rev. James Fitch Footstone Old Cemetery Lebanon, New London County, Connecticut Source: Findagrave.com

Priscilla Mason was born in Oct 1641 in Windsor, CT. Her husband was almost twenty years older than she was. The gap bewtween the oldest and youngest child was 34 years. Her parents were Maj. John MASON and Ann PECK. Priscilla died in 1714 in Norwich, CT.

James Fitch’s father Thomas died when James was only ten years old. James was left money in his fathers’ will, which enabled him to go and study at Cambridge University. During his studies at Cambridge, he was taken under the wing of Rev. Thomas Hooker of Chelmsford, a friend of Thomas Fytche who was also mentioned in the will.

Hooker and Company Journeying through the Wilderness from Plymouth to Hartford, in 1636, Frederic Edwin Church, 1846

At only sixteen, he sailed to America in 1638 with the Rev. Hooker who had decided to go to America and establish a church there. James finished his theological study in Hartford, Connecticut under the Reverend Hooker and Reverend Samuel Stone, also of Bocking, England. A new Church was built in Saybrook, Connecticut and James Fitch was ordained as its first minister in 1646.

James wrote several important documents which were circulated widely. He struggled to clarify several important points of puritan doctrine,

He struggled to find grounds for proving the necessity of works without curtailing the absolute freedom of God to chose and reject regardless of man’s achievement

He wanted to resolve the question of individual assurance, that is how a man might reach some working assurance that he was of the regenerate even though pure knowledge was an inscrutable secret open to God himself

He wanted to justify God’s ways in concepts meaningful to the human intellect to bring him into line, so to speak, with the more rationale laws of ethics.

James lived near the new meeting house on a two acre lot with a house, a barn and an orchard.

In the early summer of 1647 “an epidemical sickness” swept through parts of New England. Governor Winthrop of Massachusetts reported that it seized the victims “like a cold and light fever with it”. On 7 July James’ mentor, the Reverend Thomas Hooker, died at Hartford, Connecticut.

James was a Founding settler of Norwich and Saybrook, Connecticut and the first minister in those two towns as well. He was ordained Rev. James Fitch, to become the first ordained minister of Saybrook Congregational Church and the First Congregational Church of Norwich. James intervention got Uncas of the Mohegans, and the Pequot Indians, to side with the English against King Philip’s Narragansett tribes. Their fair dealings with the Indians spared these settlers who were on the very frontier at that time.

in 1673, Uncas promised that his people would attend the preaching of Rev. James Fitch Source: New London County, Connecticut A Modern History

Uncas (c. 1588 – c. 1683) was a sachem of the Mohegan who through his alliance with the English colonists in New England against other Indian tribes made the Mohegan the leading regional Indian tribe in lower Connecticut.

On Oct 1, 1648, James married Abigail Whitfield (born 08/1622) of nearby Guilford, Connecticut. The ceremony was performed by her father, Reverend Whitfield.

James must have approached his mother, Anna (nee Reeve 1590-1686) and his brothers about settling in America, and in about 1650, Anna Fitch and her sons Thomas, Samuel and Joseph sailed from England, to join James.

In 1659, the congregation at Saybrook received permission to establish a new settlement at Norwich, Connecticut. The nine square miles of land for the town of Norwich was purchased from the Indian Sachems of Mohegan for £70 in Jun 1659. Norwich was settled in the spring of 1660. Rev. James Fitch accompanied them as their leader along with his father-in-law Major John MASON. Just before leaving, Abigail died on September 9, 1659. James and his six children, James II, Abigail, Elizabeth, Hannah, Samuel and Dorothy, went alone to Norwich the following month. James continued as pastor at Norwich until he resigned in 1696. He moved to Lebanon in 1702.

Norwich, Connecticut
Norwich was founded in 1658 by settlers from Old Saybrook led by Major John Mason and Reverend James Fitch. Most of these original proprietors of Norwich came from Saybrook, and East Saybrook (now Lyme). The 35 original proprietors of that town were:

Reverend James FITCH, the first minister
Major John MASON, afterwards Lieut. Gov. of Connecticut
Lieut. Thomas Leflingwell
Lieut. Thomas Tracy and
his eldest son John Tracy
Deacon Thomas Adgate
Christopher Huntington and
his brother, Deacon Simon Huntington
Ensign Thomas Waterman
William Hyde and
his son Samuel Hyde, and
his son-in-law John Post
Thomas Post
Lieut. William Backus and
his brother Stephen Backus
Deacon Hugh Calkins (from New London, CT, and
his son John Calkins (from New London, CT) and
his son-in-law Jonathan Royce (from New London, CT)John REYNOLDS
Thomas Bliss
Francis Griswold
John Birchard
Robert Wade
Morgan Bowers
John Gager (from New London, CT)
Thomas Howard
Dr. John OlmsteadNehemiah SMITH (from New London, CT)
Richard Edgerton
John Elderkin
John Bradford (from Marshfield, MA)
Thomas Bingham
Robert Allen (from New London, CT)
John BaldwinJohn Pease (Son of Robert PEASE Sr.) (from New London, CT and Edgartown)
Thomas Smith (from Marshfield, MA)

Norwich Founders Memorial

James Fitch then married Priscilla MASON , daughter of Major John MASONin October of 1664. This marriage produced eight more children, Daniel, John, Jeremiah, Jabez, Ann, Nathaniel, Joseph and Eleazer.

When King Philip’s War began in 1675, Rev. Fitch was instrumental in getting Uncas and the Mohegans, and also the Pequot Indians, to side with the English against King Philip’s Narragansett tribes. Their fair dealings with the Indians spared these settlers who were on the very frontier at that time. Uncas, was the Indian chief made famous by James Fenimore Cooper in ‘The Last of The Mohegans’. He was the chief who sold the lands of Norwich to Fitch and Mason and the others settlers.

Sometime in late 1694, James suffered what we would call a stroke or, in those days a stroke of the palsy. It probably affected his speech, making it difficult to serve as minister.

In 1695 at the age of 74, James founded and settled a new town nearby, Lebanon, Connecticut, where he moved to in 1701 when he retired from the church in Norwich. He remained in Lebanon until his death at age eighty on November 18, 1702. He is buried at the churchyard there and his stone remains in the old cemetery.

The town of Lebanon has its origins with the settlers of Norwich, who wanted to expand beyond the “nine miles square” they had bought from the Mohegan sachemUncas. In 1663, the first grant in the area was given in to James’ father-in-law Maj. John Mason, deputy governor of the Connecticut colony; the next year, Mason accepted 500 acres northwest of Norwich. This area, known as “Pomakuck” or “Pomocook” by the Mohegans, is now the Goshen Hill area of Lebanon. In 1666, Connecticut granted an additional 120 acres to the Rev. James Fitch, minister of Norwich, adjacent to Maj. Mason’s land which was now known as Cedar Swamp. The Mohegans conferred their blessing on the grants by giving an additional seven-mile strip to Maj. Mason’s son in 1675, who split the land with the Rev. Fitch, his father-in-law. This area is now known as “Fitch and Mason’s Mile,” or just “The Mile.” This page was getting a little long, so you can see details of Mr. Fitch’s Mile here.

Mr. Fitch’s Mile

Rev. James Fitch’s reputation rests on his missionary work among the Connecticut Indians, particularly the Mohegans. He mastered their language and was particularly useful to the colonists during King Philip’s War.

Birth: Dec. 24, 1622, England Death: Nov. 18, 1702 Lebanon New London County Connecticut, USA Founding settler of Norwich and Saybrook, Connecticut. Rev. James Fitch was the first ordained minister of Saybrook Congregational Church and the First Congregational Church of Norwich. He was instrumental in getting Uncas and the Mohegans and the Pequot Indians to side with the English against King Philip’s Narragansett tribes. Their fair dealings with the Indians spared these settlers who were on the very frontier at that time.

Children

1. Major James Fitch

James first wife Elizabeth Mason was born in Aug 1654 in Saybrook, CT. She was the widow of William Adams of Dedham, Massachusetts. Her parents were Maj. John MASON and Anne PECK. The family relationship was unusual. When James married Elizabeth in 1675, Elizabeth’s older sister Priscilla had been James’ step-mother for over 10 years having married his father in 1664. Elizabeth died 8 Oct 1684 in Norwich, Conn.

James second wife Alice Bradford was born 27 Mar 1661 in Plymouth, Mass. Her parents were William Bradford and Alice Richards. William and Alice lived on the north side of Jones River in Stony Brook, Kingston, in the Plymouth Colony. William Bradford Plymouth Solider (Wiki) was Major Commander-in-chief of the Plymouth forces in the Great Swamp Fight in 1675 where he was severely wounded. He was active in politics. Alice died 10 Mar. 1745/46 Canterbury, Windham, CT

Maj. James Fitch helped to reestablish colonial government after the Revolution of 1689. He served in the military as Company Sergeant Major of New London Company in 1696. He was Assistant in 1690. He also served as Boundary Commissioner and Land Reviser. He led military expeditions, named forts, and guarded the frontier. He exercised jurisdiction over the Mohegans and all their lands and interests.

Cleaveland Cemetery , Canterbury, Connecticut Here lies the Body of Maj’r James Fitch Esq’r son of ye Rev’d Mr. James Fitch Pastor first of Saybrook then Norwich. He was born at Saybrook 1647. He Was very Useful in his Military & in His Magistracy to which he was chose’n & Served successively many years to ye Greate Acceptance & Advantage of His Country: being: A Gentleman of Good Parts & very forward to Promote ye Civil & Religious interes’ts of it. He died Nov. 10, 1727 Aged 80 y

James was a large landowner and founder of the town in 1697 in Canterbury, Windham County, Connecticut. He dug the first cellar there in 1697, and erected the first permanent habitation. He selected as his residence a neck of land partially enclosed by a bend in the Quenbang River. His home on the neck became a rendezvous for land traders, civil and military officials, and Indians. Here courts were held, military expeditions were organized, and many thousand acres of land were bartered away. It’s doors, the only residence between Norwich and Woodstock, were always open to weary travellers. A road was laid from Windham to his home and connected with the Greenwich path.

James Jr. gave nails and glass for the Yale’s first building, and endowed it with 635 acres of land in Killingworth, Middlesex County, Connecticut.

Source: New London County, Connecticut A Modern History

He supplied money, land and materials to help found a church college in New Haven, Connecticut that was to become Yale College in 1701. Fitch Gateway in the Harkness Quadrangle memorializes James Fitch.

Fitch Gateway Yale is named for Maj. James Fitch

He died on 10 Nov 1727 in Canterbury, Windham County, Connecticut. He is said to have settled in Norwich, but also resided in Preston, Plainfield, and Canterbury as well.

Another view – James Fitch was a land speculator and magistrate. In 1660 his father, Reverend James Fitch (1622-1702), led a group of people to settle the town of Norwich. Raised on the frontier in close contact with Indians, Fitch gained knowledge of the unsettled eastern Connecticut lands and learned to manipulate the Indians who owned them. In 1680 and 1684 Owaneco, chief of the Mohegans, granted Fitch title to a large tract of land, the Quinebaug lands, in northeastern Connecticut. His acquisition and later disposal of Indian lands drew to his side all those who claimed title by native right and who entered the political arena in order to maintain the land they claimed.

Capt. James Fitch was involved in questionable land deals in the township of Lisbon along with his Mason brother-in-laws.Source: New London County, Connecticut A Modern

Fitch was first elected deputy from Norwich in May 1678 and three years later was chosen to the Connecticut Upper House. Fitch opposed the Dominion of New England, and upon its overthrow in the spring of 1689 he was a leader in the movement to restore charter government. The old rulers of the colony procrastinated, but Fitch aroused the freemen to demand new elections and the reestablishment of the old government. In this effort he was successful, but the old magistrates, most of whom had willingly acquiesced to Governor Andros’ rule, managed to retain their former offices. James Fitch was a powerful and disturbing figure to those who cherished traditional patterns of deference and who opposed his speculations and sale of lands in eastern Connecticut. He might have won control of the government had it not been for Fitz-John Winthrop (1638-1707). Winthrop secured reaffirmation of the Connecticut charter, thereby propelling himself into the governor’s chair and restoring the good image of those who had a decade earlier supported the Dominion of New England.

The enemies of James Fitch quickly went on the offensive. Previously county courts were presided over by a local assistant like Fitch, but new legislation vested all appointive power in the hands of the General Assembly. In the 1698 election Fitch lost his Council seat. Although he was to regain it in 1700, political fortunes tuned against him. He was placed on the defensive and eventually lost control of the Quinebaug lands. He retired to Canterbury where he died in 1727.

James Fitch was for a period of almost twenty years one of the most powerful men in the colony. To his enemies he was “Black James” or the “Great land pirate,” but he led a faction devoted to charter government and native right that helped mark the transition from Puritan commonwealth to provincial Yankee society.

In 1694 and 1695 a group of Ipswich men, Joseph Stafford [son of our ancestor Thomas SAFFORD], Richard Smith, Meshach Farleyh, Matthew Perkins and Samuel Bishop bought from Capt. James Fitch of Norwich of Norwich in the Connecticut colony a tract of eighteen hundren acres which was later called Preston and on which three of Safford’s children settled. Captain Fitch’s title to this land was extremely dubious. After King Philip’s War he held it as a sort of trust for a small local tribe of Indians known as the Shetuckets to whom it had been guaranteed. When Fitch transferred the title to himself there were murmurs of disapproval among the more sensitive of the Norwich settlers, but nothing was actually done to restore what seems to have been, in bald terms. and by 1694 the title was regarded as good. [History of Norwich by Frances Caulkins, edition of 1866]

All his brothers were soldiers fighting Indians and such. As a young teenager, Jed moved to the north shore of Massachusetts and settled in Newbury, and then later went to Nantucket Island off the coast of Massachusetts. Nantucket was a Quaker colony at the time and in 1701 he married into an established Quaker family. His father had been quite friendly with the local Indians, the Mohegans and Pequots, yet fought against other tribes. Perhaps Jedediah became a pacifist and wanted no part of fighting the Indians he grew up with and so left for Nantucket.

John Dyer was born in Weymouth, but removed to Winhdam, CT with his brother Thomas. Later he sold out his Windham holdings to Thomas and removed to Canterbury where he settled. He appears a number of times in the Canterbury records:1714: Eight hundred acres of second-division land south of the Mashamoqut and west of Newichewanna Brook were sold by Major FITCH to John Dyer, and by him conveyed to Col. Thomas FITCH of Boston. Dyer for eight hundred acres gave £120. 1723: At the Canterbury land division of 30 Apr 1723, the long contest was over, and John Dyer received one share as a proprietor under patent.1739: The military companies of Plainfield, Canterbury, Pomfret, Killingly and Voluntown were constititued the 11th Connecticut Regiment with John Dyer as its Lt. Col.He was often referred to as “Captain” John Dyer, and the “History of Windham County” once refers to him as “Colonel John Dyer”

Jabez settled on the land which his father gave him, he became captain, colonel, justice of the peace and quorum, and was for many years a Judge of Probate.

2. Abigail Fitch

Abigail’s first husband Captain John Mason, Jr. was born 16 Aug 1646 in Windsor, CT. His parents were Maj. John MASON and Anne PECK. Abigail’s brother married John’s sister Elizabeth and her father married his sister Prescilla. John died of wounds suffered in the Great Swamp Fight on 18 Sep 1676 in New London, CT. Of the 71 Connecticut troops killed in the battle, nine were from John Mason’s 5th Company of Norwich. To the First and Fifth Connecticut Companies were attached Indian Scouting Companies, numbering seventy-five to each, made up mostly of Indians from the Mohegan and Pequod tribes.

This gallant young captain was severely and, as it proved, fatally wounded in the Great swamp fight at Narragansett, Dec. 19, 1675. It is probable that he was brought home from that sanguinary field by his Mohegan warriors on an Indian bier. His wounds never healed. After lingering several months, he died, as is supposed, in the same house where his father expired, and was doubtless laid by his side in the old obliterated graveyard of the first comers. Though scarcely thirty years of age at the time of his death, he stood high in public esteem, both in a civil and military capacity. He had represented the town at three sessions of the Legislature, and was chosen an assistant the year of his decease. In the probate of his estate before the County Court he is called “the worshipful John Mason.” The Rev. Mr. Bradstreet, of New London, records his death in these terms:

“My hon’d and dear Friend Capt. Juo Mason one of ye magistrates of this Colony, and second son of Major Jno Mason, dyed, Sept. 18, 1676.”

Elizabeth’s husband Rev. Edward Taylor was born about 1642 in Skiteby, England. His parents were John Taylor and Rhoda Holt. Edward died 24 Jun 1729 in Westfield, Mass. He was a theology student of her father and later A.B., Harvard, 1671, A.M., 1720;. They were married and then moved to Westfield, Massachusetts. She had eight children, most of whom died young. Elizabeth died in 1689. Edward later remarried with Ruth Wyllis of Hartford, Connecticut. His five daughters all married Connecticut clergymen.

Samuel’s wife Mary Brewster was descended from the Mayflower Pilgrim William Brewster. Mary was born 10 Dec 1660 in Norwich, CT. Her parents were Benjamin Brewster and Ann Addis. Mary died 2 Dec 1750 in Guilford, CT. They lived in Norwich and Preston, Connecticut.

Dorothy was the second wife of Nathaniel Bissell of Windsor, Connecticut. Nathaniel Bissell was born 24 Sep 1640 in Windsor, CT. His parents were John Bissell and Mindwell Moore. Nathaniel died 12 Mar 1713/14. They had two children. Dorothy died June 28, 1691.

Children of Dorothy and Nathaniel

i. Dorothy Bissell b: 27 Dec 1686

7. Capt. Daniel Fitch

Daniel’s wife Mary Sherwood was born 1674 in Fairfield, CT. She was his cousin. Her parents were Matthew Sherwood and Mary Fitch. After Daniel died, she married 25 Feb 1716 in New London, CT to Joseph Bradford (b. 18 Apr 1675 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Mass. – d. 16 Jan 1747 in New London, CT). Mary died 16 Sep 1752 in Montville, CT.

Joseph Bradford had previously married to Daniel’s sister Anne Fitch on 5 Oct 1698 in Lebanon, New London, CT.

Daniel was active in the Indian Wars and settled near New London, Connecticut at a town called Montville.

John died May 24, 1743 and Elizabeth died June 25, 1751. Children were: Elizabeth, Miriam, Priscilla and John Jr.

Capt John Fitch – “In memory of Capt. John Fitch Esq. and son to the Rev. James Fitch Pastor of the Church of Christ in Norwich and the Loveing & well beloved consort of Mrs. Elisabeth Fitch. Aged 76 years” – Windham Center Cemetery Windham, Windham, Connecticut,

Jabez’ wife Elizabeth Appleton was born 23 Apr 1682. Her parents were John Appleton Jr and Elizabeth Rogers. Elizabeth died 18 Oct 1765 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Jabez graduated from Harvard in 1694. He became a Fellow at Harvard and then was ordained minister in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1703. He took over a church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire (then part of Massachusetts) in 1725 and remained there until his death on November 22, 1746.

At age seven, Henry lost his mother and seven years later, while a sophomore at Harvard, he lost his father as well. As the only surviving son (he also had two sisters), Henry came into a considerable inheritance from both sides of the family and was able to live comfortably, if not lavishly. Henry graduated with the class of 1726, but remained at college as a resident graduate, earning a second degree in 1729 and serving as college librarian from 1730 to 1734. Leaving Harvard and Boston behind, he sold off his property in the city and relocated to Salem to begin a career as a merchant, never attaining the success of the previous generations of Gibbs. In 1737, he met and began to court Margaret Fitch, daughter of Rev. Jabez Fitch of Portsmouth, a niece of his brother-in-law. The couple wed on January 31, 1739, but the marriage was not to last. Margaret died suddenly only three years later, leaving two daughters, one of whom shortly followed her mother in death.

Henry remarried in 1747, selecting the much younger Katherine Willard, daughter of the Provincial Secretary, for his second wife. This marriage further cemented the prominent place of the Gibbs in Salem society but brought comparatively little lucre, and only the fortunate bequest of £500 from a friend, William Lynde, helped the Gibbs maintain their lifestyle and social obligations. A theological liberal and political supporter of the power of the crown and broad colonial obligations, Gibbs held several important local and provincial offices during the next several years, including justice of the peace (appt. 1753), judge, delegate in the House of Representatives (three terms, beginning in 1753), and Clerk of the House (1755-1759). In February, 1759, at what should have been the peak of his career, he contracted measles, leaving five children and an insolvent estate with a meager 10s allotted to each child.

Among the more important materials in the Gibbs papers are Henry Gibbs’ (1709-1759) copies of 21 of his 27 courtship letters to his first wife, Margaret Fitch, written between December 27th, 1737 and December 19th, 1738 (the first of the letters preserved is numbered “6”, and they continue in unbroken succession until one month before the couple was married). These letters provide an intimate view of the initiation and pursuit of a relationship between members of two of Salem’s elite families. From the beginning, the letters are familiar, affectionate, even flirtatious, becoming ever more so over the course of the year. “I ought to look upon myself as somewhat unreasonable in my desires,” he wrote in letter no. 8 (the third preserved), “when ye more I am with you, ye more Covetous I am of being so, & yt it is with regrett yt I am even now at a distance from you: however, I can’t but regard it as a sure presage yt (if ever it be my happy Lott to live with you) your Company will alwaies be a Source of ye most pleasing entertainment & Delight to me.” Elsewhere (letter 10), he wrote “When I mention ye friendship I have for you, I am far from confining it to a cold, Stoical Approbation of ye good qualities I think you possessed of, but include in it all yt is meant by Love considered as an Affection of ye Soul. Tis this tender passion joined with that regard & esteem which reason and judgement approve of, yt is ye only foundation of ye pleasure yt is ever found in Friendship.” In this correspondence, Henry eloquently describes weddings, a Quaker meeting he attended, the love lives of acquaintances, local gossip, and above all, often at considerable length, his ideas of love. At several crucial junctures in letter 16, Henry resorted to the use of a code to disguise passages dealing with an apparently embarrassing encounter with a newly married friend. The letters are a rich source for the study of views of love and marriage among the upper classes in colonial Massachusetts.

Nathaniel graduated at Harvard in 1731, ordained Oct. 31, 1739, at North Hampton. He first married Judith Coffin, daughter of Capt. Eliphalet Coffin of Exeter, Jan. 1, 1741. After Ann died, he married third a daughter of Joshua Wingate of Hampton.

Anne’s husband Lieut. Joseph Bradford of Plymouth.was born 18 Apr 1675 in Plymouth, Mass. His parents were Major William Bradford and Widow Sarah Griswold Wiswall. After Anne died, he married 25 Feb 1716 in Lebanon, New London, CT to Mary’s sister-in-law. Mary Sherwood (1674 in Fairfield, CT – d. 16 Sep 1752 in Montville, CT. Mary had previously been married to Mary’s brother Capt. Daniel Fitch. Joseph died 16 Jan 1747 in New London, CT.

Joseph’s father, William served in King Phillips as the commander in chief of the Plymouth forces and had the rank of Major. He was shot by a musket at the Narraganset Fort Fight and her carried the ball until his death. His grandfather was William Bradford (1590 – 1657) an English leader of the settlers of the Plymouth Colony who served as governor for over 30 years. Joseph died in 1747.

They settled in Norwich and then Lebanon where she died October 17, 1715

Nathaniel operated a grist mill and a fulling mill in Lebanon. He married Ann Abel of Norwich on December 10, 1701. After her death in 1726, he married Mindwell Tisdale of Lebanon on September 17, 1729. He died May 4, 1759 at age seventy-nine. The children by Ann were: Anne, Joshua, Nathan, Nehemiah, James, John, Nathaniel, Mehitable, Elizabeth, Rachel, Abel and Caleb. With Mindwell, he had: Jabez, Ezekiel and Isaac.

13. Joseph Fitch

Joseph’s first wife Sarah Mason was born about 1683 in New London, CT. Her parents were Maj. Samuel Mason and Judith Smith. Her grandparents were John MASONand Anne PECK.. Sarah died 9 FEB 1720/21 in Lebanon, New London, Conn. Joseph married Sarah Mason in Saybrook and they lived in Stonington, Connecticut. She died and he married Ann Whiting of Windham in 1729 and they moved to Lebanon. Joseph died in Windham on May 9, 1741 and Ann died there September 18, 1778.

Joseph’s second wife Ann Whiting was born 2 Jan 1698 in Windham, CT. Her parents were Samuel Whiting and Elizabeth Adams. Ann died 18 Sep 1778 in Windham, CT.

Eleazer married his cousin Martha Brown of Swanzey (Swansea), Massachusetts and they lived in Lebanon where he died in 1747. He had no children.

Martha Brown was born 20 Nov 1681 in Swansea, Bristol, Mass. Her parents were John Brown and Anne Mason. Three of her grandparents were our ancestors: John BROWN& Lydia Buckland and John MASON& Anne PECK. Martha died 1747 in Lebenon, CT.

Genealogy of the Fitch Family in North America collected and arranged by John G. Fitch (Olmsted, Ohio: printed for private distribution, 200 copies) 1886.

History of the Fitch family A.D. 1400-1930: a record of the Fitches in England and America, including “pedigree of Fitch” certified by the College of Arms, London, England by Roscoe Conkling Fitch (Haverhill, Massachusetts: Record Pub. Co.) 1930.

Your site is nicely constructed and presents its information very attractively! I’m been researching Rev. James Fitch recently, as one of his myriad American descendants, and I have discovered a few errors in your account of his life, however: 1) he came to New England in 1639, not 1638; his headstone indicates he arrived at age 16, but since his birth date was Dec. 24, 1622, he would have made the voyage during the warmer months of 1639. 2) James cannot be considered a founder of Saybrook, which was established in 1635, four years before he arrived as a mere teenager, and he underwent training by Revs. Hooker and Stone (who lived in Hartford) for seven years before being ordained a minister in Saybrook in 1746. 3) It is highly unlikely that James would be allowed to attend Cambridge before coming to New England at the young age of 16, and he certainly did not study with Rev. Hooker in England since Hooker had already emigrated to Massachusetts in 1633, and before that had been in exile in the Netherlands. James’ headstone says that he “had been most excellently taught the learned languages” before leaving England, but there would have been local teachers in the Bocking/Braintree area capable of providing such instruction.

Also, the Genealogy of the Fitch Family in North America includes an interesting story about James’ son Capt. Jeremiah Fitch (my direct ancestor) that you might wish to include here, in which he refused a court’s decision to take from him the land he had owned and lived on for nearly 20 years, and as a result he was jailed until a crowd of 50 supporters dramatically freed him (he afterward won his case and kept his land): https://archive.org/stream/genealogyoffitch00fitc#page/26/mode/2up

Great Info, here is my lineage:
This list contains the lineage of my grandmother on my mother’s side the
Doolittle-Fitch lineage. Each entry has an associate web page.
If you desire to view these web pages go to Restricted Pages
on http://rotherforth.net/ and click “Goto restricted pages”
and click “Sign Up”. Make sure your email is correct because
I’ll be contacting you.

This is incredible. My dad, Ryan Fitch, pointed me to Rev. James Fitch because he claimed he has traced our ancestry back to him. Thanks so much for sharing this. I love Puritan history (I’m Reformed Baptist), and I am blown away to find out so much about Rev. James!

Daniel Fitch (1709-1755), son of Captain Daniel Fitch and Mary Sherwood, and grandson of the Reverend James Fitch and his second wife, Priscilla Mason, did not marry Sarah Carle. Please see my biographical sketch of Daniel Fitch (born ca 1685; alive 9 May 1755). It is he who married Sarah (Hull) Carle (b.1678), daughter of Benjamin Hull and widow of Benjamin Carle. Daniel Fitch (b.ca 1685) was a son of Captain Daniel Fitch, but was born prior to his marriage to Mary Sherwood. Therefore, Captain Daniel Fitch had two sons named Daniel Fitch. Although there was an age difference of twenty-four years, this has still resulted in the conflating of the two by some researchers.